This week I listened to the podcast entitled Web Accessibility for Everyone, where Jeannie Yandel interviewed Wendy Chrisholm. The interview was about accessibility for the disabled and the web. Wendy starts off with a story about how when she was in college, she was asked to tutor a blind student and how that forced her to think creatively to come up with inventive ideas in order to teach her disabled student. It was during this time that Wendy started thinking about how designers/developers could better overcome obstacles for individuals with disabilities especially pertaining to the web. Wendy helped write the universal accessibility guidelines for web developers and in 1999 the WWW adopted the guidelines as an international standard for web design. Wendy concludes the podcast by encouraging designers to include accessibility from the start.
During my career in print design, I have come across accessibility standards such as braille and raised lettering on materials. I have designed many materials for senior citizens, many who are disabled, as well as for health and wellness events held at our local senior center, but I have never actually been formally trained how to design for the disabled. Upon doing some research, I found several web sites that talk about how to design for the visually impaired as well as how to create signage and event materials that are accessible for everyone attending.
• Easy to read text, San serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial.
• Avoid italics, ornate type, all capital letters, and shadowing effects.
• Size should be 16-18 points (a min. of 12pt for standard docs.).
• Use plain language in short, concise sentences – keep it simple.
• Reiterate information for users with memory problems.
• “Chunk” materials – one idea per paragraph.
• Use bulleted lists when possible.
• Use meaningful headings.
• Left align, avoiding “rivers of white” caused by justification.
• Include plenty of white space on the page.
• Make sure to use clear labels and signs.
• Provide lots of graphics and visuals to accompany the text.
• Use quality paper which does not show print on the reverse side.
• Color and contrast – The contrast between the background and the text is a vital factor in legibility. The better the contrast, the more legible the text will be. The size and weight of the type will affect the contrast. Black text on a white background provides the best contrast.
Good standards of print legibility help all readers. Producing information in legible print is neither difficult nor expensive. In general, the rules that apply to good design often apply to designing for the impaired as well. I leave you with a quote about the printing press that perhaps today could be said about the internet. I agree with Wendy, lets just get it right – from the start!
“The coming of the printing press must have seemed as if it would turn the world upside down in the way it spread and, above all, democratized knowledge.”
– James E. Burke
www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/design/accessible-print-design/
www.astc.org/resource/access/pmlp.htm
www.otc-cta.gc.ca/doc.php?did=46&lang=eng
www.euroblind.org/fichiersGB/policy.htm#3111
